Ingrid Law

ReadKiddoRead and Ingrid Law


ReadKiddoRead: I’m just going to dive in with a few questions and you can feel free to elaborate wherever you feel inspired.

Ingrid Law: Okay.

ReadKiddoRead: So my first question is where did you get the idea, the general premise for Savvy? It’s so unique.

Ingrid Law: Well, when I started writing Savvy, I sat down one day and decided -- I knew I was going to write a new book. I didn’t know what I was going to write and I simply decided I was going to write the craziest sentence that came into my mind without editing it or judging it or anything. And so I wrote, “When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he'd caused it.” And it turned out to stay the very first sentence of the book. From that one line, the story sort of grew. That one line was the seed for the entire story.

However, I did have some other thoughts that went along with it after I came up with that line. I have been reading a lot of tall tales and I liked the idea of creating a story about magical children that never used the word “magic” and relied much more on a sense of big fish stories, tall tales, this sense of Americana magic, really, which is based more in the individual finding strength within them to overcome whatever their challenges are.

ReadKiddoRead: Which is, obviously, an important lesson for kids of all ages to learn.

Ingrid Law: Exactly.

ReadKiddoRead: And they don’t even realize they’re learning a lesson though because the book is so fun.

Ingrid Law: Well, that’s it. That’s what we always hope for, that we can inspire children at the same time that they’re engrossed in a wonderful story.

ReadKiddoRead: Sure, sure. So you have a 12-year-old daughter, is that right?

Ingrid Law: She’s 13 now.

ReadKiddoRead: Oh, 13, wow. Did her presence in your life influence you while you were writing the book or to write the book?

Ingrid Law: Certainly, in both regards. As she’s grown up and I’ve read books aloud to her and shared the books that she’s been reading, it’s always -- well, I should back up. I’ve always loved young adult and children’s fiction. I’ve never really moved away from it. But reading more to her as she grew up always inspired me to think of stories and want to tell her stories. But also, watching her grow up and seeing her change from a child into an approaching teen, a young person struggling with the transition from childhood through the years, the teen years, I thought everything at that age seems so big and so out of control. And in a way, Savvy reflects that, these abilities that the children have in Savvy are really just a reflection of what it’s like to grow up and deal with all of these enormous changes and issues that might feel big and out of control. It just makes theirs into actual physical powers. Like storms or electricity, but they have to deal with those issues in their lives and how to take something they may not have been expecting and turn it into something wonderful about themselves.

And then halfway through writing the book, my daughter and I took the road trip that the children followed in the book and she came with me and at first, I wasn’t sure and I thought, “Well, maybe I should just take the trip on my own and have a writer’s retreat.” It was her spring break though, so I thought, “No, I’m bringing her with me.” And I’m so glad I did because to get her perspective along the way, her reactions to the things we saw -- for instance, we stopped at the world’s largest porch swing in Hebron, Nebraska, and one of her comments actually made it into the book. She commented to me, “Mom, how can this be the world’s largest porch swing if it doesn’t have a porch?” So Mibs, the character in Savvy, she makes a very similar observation. I always credit my daughter for that.

ReadKiddoRead: That’s cool. So as a parent and as an author of children’s books, do you feel that it is a big responsibility for parents and teachers and adults to get kids in their lives excited about reading? And is it the responsibility of the parents or the teachers or everyone? And what types of things do you think really work for kids to get them excited about reading?

Ingrid Law: You can use the word “responsibility” but then it makes it seem like a chore and reading shouldn’t have to be a chore and I think that’s part of the problem, is that when children start to think about reading as a chore or just an assignment, then it becomes something they resist.

ReadKiddoRead: Like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Ingrid Law: Yes. So as parents and teachers, I think one of the best things we can do is inspire children and model for them a love of books and the idea of books and start at a very young age. I had a very good friend who was once a librarian, when I was pregnant with my daughter, and she said to me, “You have to start reading to her now.” And I thought, “But I’m just pregnant.” And she said, “No, no. It’s never too early.” And so I always say that to people. It’s never too early to start reading to your children. You can read to them even when you are pregnant because for one thing, it gets you into practice and as a parent, it shows already a sense of dedication to the fact that you want your children to grow up with stories and you want them to value books. And then they also hear a certain tone of your voice. They can hear you when you’re pregnant with them and your tone of voice changes when you’re reading.

But after that, after you’ve given birth to your child, then make books plentiful. There are wonderful board books out there. I have a ten-month-old nephew and he has more board books than he has toys and he already can sit with a book and page through it and he makes little mumbling sounds with it and so he’s already getting the idea that books are an ever present thing in his life. And he even understands the concept that when you turn the page, you make different noises.

ReadKiddoRead: Aww. That’s very cute.

Ingrid Law: And then when they get even older, like preschool age, reading to them is always so important. Letting them pick out books, planning to make trips to the library, making trips to the library the highlight…

ReadKiddoRead: Yes, the highlight of the week.

Ingrid Law: Of the week, say, and making it a big deal, letting them check out as many books as they want, sometimes even letting them check out books that might be too old for them. I know my daughter, when she was in kindergarten, she carried around a novel that she checked out of her school library. She checked it out over and over and over again. She loved the cover of this book so much. I would ask her, “Do you want me to try to read that book to you?” “No.” She didn’t want me to because she already had an idea in her head about what that story was, based on the cover, and she was pretending to read it. She would make up the whole story in her head. And finally, the librarian said, “We can’t keep letting you check out this book because we have to give other children a chance.”

ReadKiddoRead: Wow.

Ingrid Law: But even the librarian understood that it was just important for my daughter to have that book in her possession, even if she couldn’t actually read it.

ReadKiddoRead: Right. So it’s just as much about encouraging imagination as it is about learning to read or the process of sounding out the words, et cetera, et cetera.

Ingrid Law: Yes. And it’s the idea of loving the idea of books.

ReadKiddoRead: Sure.

Ingrid Law: She’d hold that book everywhere with her and then finally, when she couldn’t check it out any longer, I did buy it for her.

ReadKiddoRead: That’s a good mom.

Ingrid Law: And she’s never read it but she still has it on her shelf.

ReadKiddoRead: Well, maybe she will someday. So what is it about Savvy and about Mibs that you think really captures the young person’s imagination? I mean, there has been so much -- the book has been a huge success. There has been so much excitement around it. Why? Why do you think this speaks to kids? Why does it get them excited?

Ingrid Law: I think Mibs is going through a process in the book. She’s learning about herself and she’s learning about the world around her and she, in the very beginning, she knows what she wants. She wants something -- she wants to float up to the ceiling, like her own Happy Birthday balloon. She wants to be able to have X-ray vision. She wants to have something exciting. And ultimately, that’s not what she gets. She doesn’t have control over what her ability is and she has to learn to deal with that while making this journey to try to get to her Papa, and her dream is that her savvy is actually going to be something that helps her Papa heal from this accident that he’s been in. And so it switches. She sort of switches from a very self-centered desire to have whatever her fantasy is, to wanting something that will be greater than that and more effective to the people she loves. But in the meantime, she’s also learning that everybody has got their own talent and has to find out what that is for themselves. And even the children who don’t come from this “magical family,” the Beaumonts, they have their own talents too that come out through the course of the book.

So I think it’s a very empowering story in a lot of ways to young readers, who don’t necessarily know what their talents are yet. They don’t necessarily know quite how they fit into their world and how the process of growing up is going to feel. And this story may help them explore those ideas in sort of a safer way than thinking of those issues head on.

ReadKiddoRead: Sure, sure.

Ingrid Law: I know one thing that teachers and librarians have sometimes done with children, before I come speak with them, is they will have them think what their dream savvy would be and then what their everyday savvy is, what they’re talented at right now. I had one girl write her dream savvy would be the ability to fly and her everyday savvy is that something about she was able to handle tough times because she’d had to deal with a lot of difficulty in her life.

ReadKiddoRead: So it’s helping kids see their strengths and their unique abilities as true… as something truly special.

Ingrid Law: Exactly. To look at themselves and say, “I may have such and such a dream but look at me and what I can do right now.”

ReadKiddoRead: Right. Look at the magic I create everyday, without using magic. Yes, that’s very cool. So is there a sequel?

Ingrid Law: I am working on a companion book.

ReadKiddoRead: Very cool.

Ingrid Law: So I don’t know quite yet when that will come out. Either at the end of next year or maybe the beginning of next year -- end of this year or beginning of next year. I’m still working on it.

ReadKiddoRead: Sure, sure.

Ingrid Law: It’s so hard.

ReadKiddoRead: Yes, it must be. I can only imagine. There are a lot of people out there excited to see what happens next.

Ingrid Law: But I’m taking a different, a slightly different approach. That’s why I say it’s more of a companion than a sequel because the main character will change.

ReadKiddoRead: Ah, well, that’s very interesting.

Ingrid Law: But I wanted to show a different perspective on sort of the similar idea of what it would be like to be approaching your 13th birthday but have different issues. Mibs’ story was told already, so the second book takes the perspective of her cousin.

ReadKiddoRead: Oh, cool.

Ingrid Law: And there will be some familiar faces along the way. I can’t totally move away from these characters that I have come to love.

ReadKiddoRead: Right, of course. And then what does your daughter have to say about all of this? Is she just -- is it exciting for her? Does it make her want to write a book? Is she inspired?

Ingrid Law: Well, my daughter has always been a fabulous writer herself and so she’s been very supportive of me through the whole process and it’s wonderful to have her. She and I are a great team and we throw our ideas off each other. She can totally understand that there are times when I become more stressed out by the certain conflicts that I might be having in the writing or get really excited about some breakthrough I’ve had and she’s always there and always very supportive and she’s very excited about the book. I think she’s most excited about the fact that I tend to get a lot of free books when I go to conventions or I get to pick up a lot of other people’s books.

ReadKiddoRead: Right.

Ingrid Law: She benefits from that, she said, “Mom, your job rocks, with all these new books.”

ReadKiddoRead: So that’s one way to get kids excited about reading, is become an author, right?

Ingrid Law: Sure.

ReadKiddoRead: And I heard that there’s a movie deal in the works?

Ingrid Law: There is. The movie was auctioned by Walden Media and so they are very excited about the story and the book. They partnered on the book as well.

ReadKiddoRead: Oh, cool.

Ingrid Law: And they’ve been a really valuable source of support and excitement for the book as well and just a great group of people.

ReadKiddoRead: That’s exciting. It sounds like it’s going to be -- I’m sure it’s going to have a huge impact and I’m sure all of these kids that are reading the book are going to just love to see it come to life on the big screen.

Ingrid Law: Well, and sometimes, that’s another way to get kids into books. If they know it’s going to be a movie or after they have seen the movie, they want to know more. I know when I was a kid, I read all of the movie novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy.

ReadKiddoRead: Sure, of course.

Ingrid Law: I was very into those.

ReadKiddoRead: I’m sure a lot of kids will see movies, not even realizing that they were based on books that have been previously written, so that is also another great idea. Well, listen, thank you so much for taking the time. We really, really appreciate it. The website just -- it really means a lot to Mr. Patterson. This is his big passion. He is a parent too. He has a son, who, he’s really worked with on getting him excited about reading, and so this really means a lot to him.

Ingrid Law: And I have to say too, my daughter was also thrilled, and I was thrilled, to be a part of this site as well because the Maximum Ride books were some of the books that really became instrumental in getting her to be a can’t-put-the-book-down reader.

ReadKiddoRead: Oh, well, that’s wonderful and I know that that’s going to mean a lot to Mr. Patterson because those books, in particular, are extremely important to him and that’s what he hoped would happen with those books, so that’s just wonderful.

Ingrid Law: Well, terrific. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of the site too.

ReadKiddoRead: Okay, take care. Thank you.

Ingrid Law: You’re welcome. Bye-bye.

ReadKiddoRead: Okay, bye-bye.